Three-dimensional FE model for calculation of temperature of a thermosensitive disc

An effect of variations of the temperature-dependent thermophysical properties of materials of a pad and a disc on the temperature generated due to friction was studied. A three-dimensional boundary-value problem of heat conduction of the disc heated locally within the contact area by the moving with the constant deceleration heat flux and the intensity proportional to the specific capacity of friction was formulated. An issue was solved numerically using the finite element method (FEM). The experimental dependences curves of the thermal conductivity and the thermal diffusivity on the temperature ranging from 20 to 500 °C indispensable for the calculations were approximated using Chichinadzeʹs methodology. The comparative analysis of temperature values on the contact surface of the disc obtained with and without influence of temperature dependence of the four different pad and the same quantity of the disc materials was carried out. It was demonstrated that apparent temperature differences arose for each friction couple combining temperature-dependent and constant properties of materials, however, the largest observed discrepancy (13.7%) occurred for the disc made of aluminium alloy series Al MMC. Other disc materials i.e. iron alloy series FCD50, cast iron ChNMKh and steel EI-696 revealed relatively equal temperature differences of order of 6.4%. Furthermore incorporated in the formula for the heat partition temperature variability of the thermophysical properties of materials affected the resulting contact temperature of the disc for friction couple combined exclusively with the titanium pad VT-14 (3.1%).